AST Dew Tour Heads to Cleveland

July 17, 2007, 7:01am

CLEVELAND - July 17, 2007 - The AST Dew Tour, the world’s premier season-long action sports tour, continues its third season July 19-22 with the Right Guard Open at Cleveland’s North Coast Harbor. The five-city tour also includes stops in Baltimore, Portland, Salt Lake City and Orlando.

More than 260 professional action sports athletes from around the world-including skateboarder Ryan Sheckler, BMX athlete Jamie Bestwick, and FMX competitor Nate Adams-will return to compete for the Dew Cup, awarded at season’s end to the athlete with the highest number of points in each of the six disciplines: skateboarding (park and vert), BMX (park, vert, and dirt), and freestyle motocross. The Tour’s current points leaders include Nate Adams (Freestyle Motocross), Jamie Bestwick (BMX Vert), Daniel Dhers (BMX Park), Ryan Nyquist (BMX Dirt), Shaun White (Skateboard Vert) and Ryan Sheckler (Skateboard Park).

There are a number of athletes to watch on the third season of the AST Dew Tour-both veterans and a few new faces. A list of a few of those athletes to watch is as follows:

Skateboarding

· Shaun White, Olympic gold medalist in snowboarding and pro skateboarder, currently holds the points lead in Skateboard Vert heading into the Right Guard Open. The win was the third of his professional skateboarding career.

· Ryan Sheckler of San Clemente, Calif. continues his domination in Skateboard Park winning June’s Panasonic Open event by a wide margin. Sheckler is looking to capture his third consecutive Dew Cup trophy.

· Alex Perelson, at only 16-years-old and in his rookie season on the Dew Tour, turned quite a few heads finishing in sixth place in his first professional event.

BMX

· Anthony Napolitan, from Youngstown, Ohio, is the Cinderella story of last season, will look to repeat as champion in BMX Dirt competition. Napolitan who finished the 2005 season in last place, made the improbable jump to Dew Tour champion in 2006. Napolitan will be returning to Northeast Ohio for his first competition since having November 28 honored in his name.

· Jamie Bestwick of Nottingham, GBR has taken on an added responsibility for the 2007 season serving as an NBC analyst. Bestwick’s focus is still on the BMX Vert competition where he looks to win his third Dew Cup in as many years. He also collected 2006 Athlete of the Year honors.

· 2006 BMX Park champion Daniel Dhers of Caracas, VEN continued where he left off last year, recording an event win at the Panasonic Open to take an early lead in the points standings. Dhers has some of the greatest names in action sports history, Dave Mirra and Ryan Nyquist, looking to knock him off the podium.

· Ryan Nyquist of Los Gatos, Calif. was able to pull out a win in BMX Dirt competition at the Panasonic Open with a sore knee. The former King of Dirt will have to continue putting together near flawless runs as a swarm of Australian riders are in close pursuit.

FMX

· Nate Adams of Glendale, Ariz. is the 2006 FMX Dew Cup winner. Adams has started off the 2007 season with a win at the Panasonic in an effort to repeat as champion.

· Jeremy Stenberg of Winchester, Calif. missed out on making the Finals in the Panasonic Open but continues to improve after suffering two broken legs during the 2006 season.

· Mike Mason of Minden, Nev. who finished as the runner-up to Adams last season, placed third at the Panasonic Open in Baltimore to stay within contention for the tour title.

Entering its third year, the AST Dew Tour is the most watched and attended action sports property in the world. Attendance for the 2006 AST Dew Tour totaled nearly 250,000 and an average of 38 million viewers tuned in via NBC and USA each year. The top athletes in the world will take part in this year’s Tour, all competing for the highly coveted Dew Cup which will be awarded in Orlando at season’s end to champions in each of the six disciplines. The 2006 Dew Cup winners include Nate Adams (Freestyle Motocross), Jamie Bestwick (BMX Vert), Anthony Napolitan (BMX Dirt), Daniel Dhers (BMX Park), Bucky Lasek (Skateboard Vert) and Ryan Sheckler (Skateboard Park).